


Even the Nicest People Have Their Limits

by WhiteHawkHarringrove



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: BAMF Steve, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Fist Fights, Hurt Steve Harrington, Insanity, M/M, One Shot, Protective Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington Snaps, Steve is Terrifying When Angry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-06-29 04:04:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15721608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteHawkHarringrove/pseuds/WhiteHawkHarringrove
Summary: Steve gets into a fight with Billy's father after he hurts Max... The kids see a side of Steve they never want to see again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [something worth fighting for](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13299132) by [pretendimstraight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pretendimstraight/pseuds/pretendimstraight). 



“Max, you need to tell me the truth... what happened?” Steve asked Max, who had a nasty shiner forming on her left eye. She shook her head.

“Max told us that she tripped and hit her face on the table on the way down,” Lucas told Steve. Steve glanced at the pack of teenage boys behind him. 

“Can I talk to Max alone, please?” Steve asked, watching Max's movements. He didn't hear them move so he turned his head over his shoulder. “Now?!” 

Just like that the boys scattered into the next room. Steve kneeled in front of Max who was sitting on his living room couch.

“Max, you can talk to me. Who did this to you? Was it Neil?” Steve asked quietly. She hesitated then nodded slightly.

“He was hurting Billy and I tried to stop him.” Max broke down into sobs and Steve wrapped his arms around her in a hug. He was furious and he was going to kill the asshole that kept hurting Max and his boyfriend. After a few minutes of her sobbing into Steve's shirt, she released him, pulling back and wiping her face with the sleeves of her hoodie, being careful of her eye.

“You okay?” Steve asked, Max nodded wordlessly. Steve clenched his fists by his sides and stood up. “Good. Everyone in my car NOW!”

The kids piled quickly into the vehicle, there was a look in Steve's eyes that made them terrified. Steve's held a tight grip on the wheel, knuckles white. He pushed the pedal down to the floor.

“Holy shit! Slow down!” Dustin screamed at him from the back seat. Steve flashed Dustin a look that made him shut up instantly. The BMW screeched into the Hargrove's driveway as Steve slammed on the breaks. He shifted the car into park and looked at the kids.

“Stay in the car, got it?” Steve snarled. The kids nodded vigorously. Max grabbed his arm when he went to exit the car.

“Steve, please, don't do this! He'll hurt you!” Max pleaded. Steve looked at her, eyes dark.

“He won't hurt me,” Steve told her. 

“How do you-”

“He won't hurt me because I'm going to fucking kill him,” Steve spat out the curse. Now the kids were really scared, they had never seen Steve so angry that he cursed like that. Steve sat there a minute before speaking, his hands shaking with rage. “Call Hopper. I don't know what's going to happen in there.”

Max released his arm after Lucas radioed Hopper, and sunk into her seat. Steve slammed the car door as he left. He took deep breaths as he approached the door and pounded on it. After a minute of pounding, the door opened to reveal none other than Neil Hargrove himself.

“Who the hell are you?” The man asked. Steve smirked at him, letting out a dangerous chuckle.

“I'm Steve Harrington, your son's boyfriend,” Steve hissed at him. Neil's eyes went dark.

“You! You're the fa-” Steve's fist crashed into the older man's nose, cutting off the slur. He let out a laugh as he felt the cartilage snap under his knuckles. The man reared back, his own fist driving back into the teen's. 

Steve threw his head back in insane laughter, blood streaming from his nose. He vaguely remembered the same thing happening when he punched Billy a few months back. This time Steve wasn't going to get his ass handed to him. He fought monsters, not humans; and this man was more monster than human.

Neil pinned him to the wall, beating his face in, in a similar style that his son had. He was laughing the entire time, which pissed off Neil even more.

“You little shit! You think you can come into my house and-” Steve shoved Neil back into the opposite wall. He smirked when he saw the divot in the wall that Neil's head made. He took the moment of the man's disorientation to his advantage and shoved him to the ground. 

“You think it's okay to hurt your own kids? You're far beyond the definition of sick,” Steve snarled at him, straddling him. He grabbed the collar of Neil's shirt with one hand and punching Neil with the other. 

“Steve?” Steve didn't stop at the sound of Billy's voice. He didn't care that his boyfriend was in the room. He wanted to finish that bastard right then and there. His fists kept raining down on Neil, even though he was now unconscious. 

“I swear I'm going to kill you, you twisted son of a bitch!” Steve shouted at Neil so loudly that his voice cracked. “You don't deserve to live you stupid piece of shit!”

Steve continued to shout obscenities as he beat the abuser's face in. He did that until his voice was hoarse and cracking with each word that he spat out like it was venom. He felt a hand grab his arm, stopping the beatdown,

Steve fought the hands that pulled him back, laughing hysterically at the sight of Neil's bloody face. He felt a strong pair of arms wrapping around him pinning his own down. He turned his battered face to see that it was Jim Hopper that was restraining him.

Steve saw two other officers come in and handcuff the unconscious man... no.... monster who was lying on the floor. Cold metal rings were snapped around his wrists. Billy kneeled in front of Steve, who was still being restrained by Hopper because he was still trying to get to Neil. 

“Steve? Babe? You need to calm down!” Billy tried to reason, Steve started laughing even harder if that was even possible. The laughs coming from the normally gentle teen were sadistic and gritty from his yelling and frankly... it scared the ever loving shit out of Billy. 

Hopper hauled Steve to his feet and dragged him out of the house, still laughing like a madman. When he saw Neil start to regain consciousness, he flipped out even more.

“I'm gonna fucking kill you,” Steve screamed while laughing hysterically. Billy stepped into his view, blocking the view of his father. The kids, who were now standing outside the car, were looking on in pure terror, partly because of the hysterics and partly because of his face, which was almost completely covered in blood, cuts, and bruises.

By then, people from all over had gathered around, trying to see what all the commotion was about. While Hopper was distracted with the crowd, Steve wrenched himself from the police chief's grip, lunging for the monster. Billy caught him, wrapping his arms tightly around Steve's torso, pinning his arms to his sides for the second time that day.

“Christ, kid, what the hell happened?” Hopper muttered. Billy helped Hopper stuff Steve into the back of the car. His laughs seemed to be growing weaker but he just couldn't stop them. Before he knew it the laughter turned into sobbing.

Steve curled into Billy's side, whimpering softly. Eventually, he quieted, looking at his knuckles; they were severely bruised and had drying blood flaking off of them. Steve cried out in pain as he experimentally flexed his hand. Billy gently took his damaged hand in his own unharmed ones, examining it thoroughly.

“Hey, Hopper, I think Steve has some broken knuckles,” Billy told the chief.

“We're going to the hospital to get his head checked out, I imagine they could take a look at those too,” Hopper replied. Billy turned to Steve and noticed that he was still staring at his knuckles, wide-eyed. 

“What have I done,” Steve rasped in horror before starting to sob uncontrollably.

“It's okay, Stevie...you saved us.”


	2. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy and Hopper take Steve to the hospital

Billy held Steve in the back of the police cruiser on the way to the hospital. Steve had been crying for a while now. He couldn't believe what he had just done. There was no way that he was going to get off the hook for this. 

Steve had spaced out on Billy's shoulder before they got to the hospital. When they pulled up, Billy and Hopper hauled Steve out of the back seat and into the building. The nurses seemed to swarm the trio as they entered the hospital with the bloodied teen hanging from them, semi-conscious. 

A couple of nurses tried to pry Billy from Steve's grip, when they did, Steve immediately flipped out at the loss of contact. He was screaming and crying and trying to latch back on to Billy.

“Sir, could you please come back with him? We don't want to stress him out more than necessary.” One of the nurses asked, Billy was happy to oblige and followed the nurse back with a shaking Steve in his arms. 

They were taken to an exam room where Billy helped Steve up onto the table. The nurse took a clipboard and jotted something down, then she smiled and walked towards the door.

“I'll be back with the doctor in a few minutes just sit tight,” The nurse said softly, with a gentle smile. When she was gone, Billy hopped up on the table beside Steve and wrapped an arm around him. Steve instantly pressed into his side. 

“You okay?” Billy whispered the question into Steve's ear. Steve shook his head slightly, even the little movement made his head swim. 

“No, I'm not okay. Shit... I wanted to kill him, Bee, hell, I was about to kill him. I just lost control of my emotions. And Bee? I was scared of myself,” Steve told Billy, voice sounding hollow and scared at the same time. He couldn't seem to cry anymore, it was like he ran out of tears.

“It'll be okay, babe, don't worry,” Billy hushed the teen. They continued to wait for the doctor in silence. When the door opened they both looked up expectantly. 

“Which one of you is Steve Harrington?” The doctor asked. Steve raised his hand shyly. 

“Okay, Steve, we're going to take you for a few tests, we have arranged it so your boyfriend will be just outside the room while we do some scans, then we will splint that hand once we get back, okay?” Steve nodded and off they went to start the scans.

They returned to see Hopper in the room, pacing. He stopped when they entered.

“So?” Hopper asked.

“He sustained a moderate concussion, there was some damage done to his cerebellum, it may or may not heal, but at the worst, he will have some minor coordination problems. His knuckles are definitely broken, I'm about to splint them now.” The chief released the breath he was holding. The doctor started to splint the knuckles while Hopper talked to Steve and Billy.

“Neil Hargrove isn't pressing any charges, however, it has been decided that you need to go to some anger management classes to deal with this.” Steve sighed in utter relief. He thought for sure he was going to jail.

“See, babe? It's going to be okay.”

“Yeah, maybe it is.”


End file.
